{"id":38967,"date":"2026-08-11T17:23:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38967"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:23:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:23:37","slug":"is-l-a-s-district-attorney-protecting-the-blue-wall-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38967","title":{"rendered":"Is L.A.&#8217;s district attorney protecting the blue wall of silence?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>Los Angeles police Officer Daniel Flores <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-08-10\/lapd-officer-eavesdropping-recordings-arraignment\">may have broken the law<\/a> when he secretly recorded his colleagues making ugly, unacceptable comments that were variously racist, homophobic, misogynistic or otherwise gross and unprofessional at best. <\/p>\n<p>So L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman is right to take this, or any, violation of the law by a badge-wearing member of our police force seriously, no matter what Flores\u2019 intent was. <\/p>\n<p>But Monday, Flores was arraigned on 16 felony counts that could lock him up in state prison for 13 years (<a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/news\/local\/lapd-officer-secret-recording-eavesdropping\/3927790\/\" target=\"_blank\">he pleaded not guilty)<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>That court hearing was preceded by an unusual and disturbing summary of the case <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-08-07\/nathan-hochman-da-backlash-lapd-officer-recordings-charges\">filed with the court by Hochman<\/a>. It seemed like an inappropriate attempt to smear <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/local-news\/prosecutors-reveal-new-details-in-lapd-secret-recording-scandal\/\" target=\"_blank\">Flores as a money-grubber with a convoluted plan<\/a> to sue taxpayers into a sweet retirement (as opposed to intending to expose misconduct), while simultaneously giving an aw-shucks, it-was-all-in-good-fun defense of the ugly commentary of the recorded officers. <\/p>\n<p>Regardless of what <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/losangeles\/video\/lapd-chief-mcdonnell-da-hochman-answer-questions-about-officer-charged-for-illegal-recordings\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hochman\u2019s intent is in throwing the book at Flores<\/a>, the result is one that will haunt this city for years to come: a police force in which the officers are clear that if you rat out the cops for misconduct,  you get what you get. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe message to everyone in the police department is keep your mouth shut,\u201d said David A. Harris, a law professor at University of Pittsburgh and an expert on police misconduct. \u201cYou cannot stand up for principle or even for the policy of the police department, except at the risk of your own career and your own well-being, and perhaps your freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Hochman spoke with me for nearly an hour about his reasons for what many, myself included, see as his prosecutorial overreach in this case. Before I tell you the reasons why I think Hochman has it wrong \u2014 dangerously wrong \u2014 in the decision to charge Flores\u2019 so harshly, I\u2019ll tell you where we agree. <\/p>\n<p>First, we agree that cops shouldn\u2019t do things such as refer to Black people as \u201cmonkeys,\u201d as my colleagues<a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-08-10\/lapd-officer-eavesdropping-recordings-arraignment\"> Libor Jany, James Queally and Richard Winton reported<\/a> allegedly happened in this case. <\/p>\n<p>Cops, we concur, should not call women \u201cbitches.\u201d They also should not call women \u201crapeable,\u201d even if, as Hochman\u2019s filing assures us, \u201cthe use of the phrase \u2018rape\u2019 was not in a sexual context.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>I am not sure what the nonsexual context of rape is, but OK. <\/p>\n<p>Cops should not make fun of, in no particular order, people with disabilities; candidates applying for jobs; co-workers; Asian people; Hispanic people; or people who may be overweight \u2014 as the officers in this case allegedly  did. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese comments are deplorable. They\u2019re despicable. They\u2019re racist. They\u2019re homophobic. They\u2019re sexist,\u201d Hochman told me. \u201cThere\u2019s no place in our society for them, and they should be punished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So Hochman and I agree  that Flores may have broken the law, and that the comments of his fellow officers are unacceptable. <\/p>\n<p>And now the roads diverge. <\/p>\n<p>Because faced with those competing truths, Hochman could have used prosecutorial discretion \u2014 the art of tempering the law with the mores and ethics of the community. <\/p>\n<p>He could have used that discretion to cut Flores a break, charge him at a lower misdemeanor level or not at all, and put the focus where it belongs \u2014 on the officers who disgraced their badge with their behavior, and what is seemingly a culture of disrespect and degradation within the unit charged with choosing the next generation of officers. <\/p>\n<p>These are the officers charged with recruiting the officers of the future, so the stakes here are high. This is misconduct that the people of L.A. need to know about, because if these officers are so casual in their hateful comments, can we trust their judgment on hiring?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn one hand, being a whistleblower doesn\u2019t give a person the right to violate the law,\u201d said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of UC Berkeley\u2019s law school, who did an <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalcommons.lmu.edu\/llr\/vol34\/iss2\/4\/\" target=\"_blank\">investigation on police culture in the LAPD in 2000<\/a> in the wake of the Rampart scandal. \u201cOn the other hand, I would hope that the district attorney would take context into account. And 16 felony charges seems really excessive.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"enhancement\" data-click=\"enhancement\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<figure class=\"figure m-0\"> <picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/9fe6ff1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/320x375!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/ad74d31\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/568x666!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/de2b1ec\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/768x900!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d44f880\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/1024x1201!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 1024w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4875baf\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/1200x1407!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img class=\"image\" alt=\"LAPD Officer Daniel Flores, left, listens as his attorney Alan Jackson speaks to reporters Monday.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d8fae90\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/320x375!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/87bc194\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/568x666!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/6c8b53e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/768x900!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/e1ea48c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/1024x1201!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 1024w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/dadeb93\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/1200x1407!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1407\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/dadeb93\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4284x5023+0+0\/resize\/1200x1407!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F17%2Facf5a89047b58e33d39075a28781%2Fdaniel-flores.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/picture>\n<div class=\"figure-content\">\n<p>LAPD Officer Daniel Flores, left, listens as his attorney Alan Jackson speaks to reporters Monday.<\/p>\n<p>(Libor Jany \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<p>But Hochman argues that a \u201cmessage has to be sent\u201d because it\u2019s a police officer who broke the law. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t hold police officers accountable, it\u2019s very hard to hold anybody accountable,\u201d Hochman said. \u201cI believe that no, we\u2019re not going to let the ends justify the means, even if the ends may be laudable, like exposing bigotry, because it leads us down a very slippery slope.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Hochman said Flores simply could have taken notes on the inappropriate comments and turned them in to superiors or the independent inspector general, which strikes me as either sweetly naive or disingenuous. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe officer would be shunned; his career would be over, and he would probably find himself on the receiving end of some kind of retaliation,\u201d Harris, the law professor, said of the likely outcome of that plan. <\/p>\n<p>Chemerinsky said retaliation against whistleblowers has long been a part of the culture of the department. Make a complaint, his report in 2000 found, and an officer might get \u201cfreeway therapy,\u201d transferred to someplace far from where they lived to send a message, or even find themselves without backup in a dangerous situation. <\/p>\n<p>This decision to treat Flores so harshly, Chemerinsky said, comes off as \u201cpart of that long history of LAPD trying to very much crack down on whistleblowing.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Hochman told me that he wants to make it \u201ccrystal clear\u201d that \u201cnothing in this prosecution should be read that we are in any way trying to chill whistleblowers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He added that he did use discretion. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope you note in your article that the district attorney could have brought 122 felony charges, or 122 misdemeanors, or some combination of felonies and misdemeanors up to 122,\u201d Hochman said. <\/p>\n<p>Flores made 122 total recordings of 16  people. Hochman charged on the number of people recorded, not the  number of recordings, he pointed out. <\/p>\n<p>So sure, we can count that as discretion, I guess?<\/p>\n<p>This is where Hochman has his messages dangerously backward. Sure, hold Flores reasonably accountable for taking matters into his own hands, if he broke the law in doing so. Certainly, Flores knew there would be consequences to his actions. <\/p>\n<p>But that Hochman is trying to frame this as a fair and reasonable prosecution, while protecting the officers who made the comments by giving us their weak-sauce excuses about having no ill intent, does not provide this city the justice it expects and deserves. <\/p>\n<p>Hochman, you may recall, replaced George Gasc\u00f3n, a prosecutor who was accused of forcing his own values on the city. <\/p>\n<p>Now, Hochman seems to be doing the same with his heavy-handed approach to Flores. <\/p>\n<p> Hammering on Flores does not reflect the values of the majority of the Los Angeles community that wants a police force in which integrity and respect are fundamental, impunity is the outcast, and whistleblowers aren\u2019t attacked, even if it turns out their motives aren\u2019t pure.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I don\u2019t care what Flores\u2019 intent was in making the recordings. I don\u2019t care if the officers caught on tape didn\u2019t intend to offend, and I don\u2019t care what Hochman intends the message to be with his vast over-charging of Flores. <\/p>\n<p>I care about the result: a city in which misogyny and racism are just locker room talk, but breaking the blue wall of silence is a serious crime. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles police Officer Daniel Flores may have broken the law when he secretly recorded his colleagues making ugly, unacceptable comments that were variously racist, homophobic, misogynistic or otherwise gross and unprofessional at best. So L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman is right to take this, or any, violation of the law by a badge-wearing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4694ef2\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1575+0+213\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1f%2Ff4%2F7c61a8f7461e8040044fa6af74c7%2F1565764-me-hate-crime-prosecutions-alc-173.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}